In Mark 10:18, Jesus asks, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” It would be wrong to interpret Jesus’ words here as a denial of His divinity. He asserted His divine authority in other passages (Matthew 25:31-46; 26:63-64; John 8:58).
No one knows Jesus’ exact reasons for answering the rich young man as He did. By asking him, “Why do you call me good?” Jesus may have been encouraging him to reflect more closely on the evidence of His life.1 Another possibility is that He was helping the young man to see the futility of human attempts at self-justification through good works. This rich young man was seeking an answer from Jesus that would be humanly possible for him to achieve—some difficult but admirable work that could justify personal pride and self-righteousness. By answering as He did, Jesus made it clear that human works are absolutely inadequate to produce anything “good” in God’s sight (Romans 7:18).
Even though we may not know exactly what Jesus meant, we shouldn’t take one somewhat ambiguous question by Jesus out of context. The Christian faith is not based on questionable interpretations of debatable biblical texts. It is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Gospels frankly show how badly Jesus’ disciples misunderstood Him throughout His life. They thought He would demonstrate His messianic authority by setting up His kingdom on earth. When He was arrested and crucified, they lost hope (Matthew 26:56, 69-75). But Jesus was resurrected, His body miraculously transformed into a new kind of glorious life.
In the face of such a stupendous event, the disciples no longer doubted Jesus’ identity. Thomas, one who was absent when Jesus first appeared and who believed the others’ testimony of His resurrection seemed too good to be true (John 20:25), found himself face-to-face with Jesus. His response was to say simply: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
